Shane Johnson, 37, of no fixed address, has been sentenced to 45 months and four weeks in prison after admitting burglary with intent to steal. The sentence, handed down at Birmingham Crown Court on August 13, follows a series of raids that netted more than £71,000 worth of Pokémon cards and other collectibles.
Brothers targeted Warrington store
Shane and his brother Keith Johnson, 33, from Brookwood Avenue, Birmingham, targeted Celestial Collectables in Lovely Lane, Warrington, on April 8. The siblings smashed their way into the shop, which specialises in rare and high value Pokémon trading cards. The store also sold memorabilia and other condition items which were limited in numbers or rare to collectors.
The duo ransacked the store, with police arriving through the broken doorway to discover Pokémon cards strewn across the floor. A crowbar was also recovered from the scene, which had been used to smash the glass in the front door, shelving and cabinets. Pokémon cards worth around £62,000 were stolen during the raid, which caused more than £3,000 worth of damage.
Police tracked cloned van
Crucial CCTV captured a white Ford transit van on cloned plates, which was used during the burglary. The van had travelled from Birmingham to Warrington on the day of the burglary, and had previously been parked up outside Keith’s address. It was later found in East Avenue in Stockton Heath, along with a number of Pokémon cards, a box with the shop's logo on, and tools and items for going equipped to a burglary.
CCTV showed the van had broken down and the brothers had pushed it along London Road in Warrington onto East Avenue, where there was another waiting van which had also travelled up from Birmingham. They transferred their haul into the other van, which was later found parked up near Shane’s address.
Second burglary in Rugby
The brothers also used a crowbar to break into The Graded Gallery in Rugby, where they caused significant damage to the interior and stole various items, including Pokémon cards, before leaving in a Nissan X-Trail. The total cost of the stock stolen and damaged caused was more than £9,000.
West Midlands Police informed Cheshire colleagues that another burglary had taken place in Warwickshire, and the Nissan X-Trail involved in the burglary was parked outside Keith's address. Officers attended the address to arrest the two men, and a search of the property recovered the keys to the van used in the Warrington burglary, stolen property belonging to Celestial Collectable, the keys to the Nissan X-Trail and more stolen property from other commercial burglaries. The clothes they were wearing at the time of the Warrington burglary - including Shane’s trainers - were also recovered when the men were arrested.
Sentencing and police reaction
Keith Johnson appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on July 2, where he was jailed for 29 months after admitting burglary with intent to steal. Shane Johnson was sentenced on August 13 after pleading guilty to the same offences.
Following the second sentencing, DC Hannah Smith from Cheshire Police, said: “The overwhelming evidence collected through our extensive enquiries put them at both crime scenes giving them no choice but to plead guilty. The brothers will now have to pay the price for their part in their criminal Pokémon enterprise.”
